Calendar of Literary Facts

1839

  • William Apess dies
  • The Spasmodic school of literature flourishes in England and Scotland
  • African slaves take over the Spanish slaver Amistad and sail to Montauk, Long Island
  • The Opium War is fought in China between the British and the Chinese
  • The first bicycle is built by a Scotsman, Kirkpatrick Macmillan
  • Charles Goodyear develops the process of vulcanizing rubber
  • René François Armand Prudhomme (Sully Prudhomme) is born (March 16)
  • Joaquim María Machado de Assis is born (June 21)